Kristin Olds Glavin,Daniel B. Murrey,Joel C. Porter,Donald Brunn,Rick W. Wright

The health-care delivery environment continues to evolve. Changes are continuously occurring, making it difficult for the practicing orthopaedic surgeon to remain current with new opportunities and options. While there may never be complete loss of traditional private practice and academic practices, there will be many new practice variations driven by multiple entities, including employers, insurers, the government, and hospitals. It is imperative that orthopaedic surgeons remain integral participants in the development of these new models.

On June 28, 2012, the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA) presented a symposium at its 125th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., the intent of which was to identify these current trends and issues in the evolving U.S. health-care marketplace. The symposium presented a range of perspectives that were designed to assist orthopaedic leadership in managing these changes, including the perspectives, key goals, and results to date of a successful academic medical center’s consolidation efforts; the trends, some key components, and preferred physician models for integration; and best practices in negotiating an integration deal that included “lessons learned” and key issues to consider before, during, and after the deal is executed.